JPMorgan Chase, the megabank expanding its operations in the U.S. capital, agreed to pay $140 million for a 1920s landmark that will serve as its Washington headquarters.
Renovation work on the 12-story Bowen building, at 875 15th St., will start next year, and the lender expects to move in two years later, while maintaining Virginia offices in Tysons Corner, Norfolk and Richmond and Maryland facilities in Baltimore.
The regional headquarters will power New York-based JPMorgan’s expansion, which includes moving its consumer branch network into the area and hiring as many as 700 new employees. The initiatives are part of a $20 billion investment companywide, powered by deep Republican tax cuts for U.S. corporations last year.
JPMorgan plans to open as many as 70 branches in the D.C. region, some before the end of this year, Thasunda Duckett, head of the bank’s consumer business, said in an April interview.
The third-largest regional economy in the U.S., the D.C. area is a growing economic center with a well-educated workforce and a significant high-tech presence, an alluring prospect for a bank that has been expanding in the Southeast and plans to move into as many as 20 new markets over the next five years.
The Washington expansion will bring more than just new branches, CEO Jamie Dimon has promised. JPMorgan will lend more money for affordable housing, home mortgages and small business growth under a $4 billion program over five years.
“We are deeply committed to the region and have been growing our business here for nearly 20 years,” Peter Scher, chairman of the bank’s Mid-Atlantic Region, said in a statement. “This new regional headquarters and branch expansion in greater Washington will help us continue to invest here long-term and play our part in continuing to grow the economy.”
Situated on McPherson Square with views of the Potomac River and the Washington Monument, the Bowen building was restored in 2004, with designers adding three levels of underground parking and a state-of-the-art fitness center.
JPMorgan is buying the building at the same time it pursues construction of a new 2.5 million-square-foot structure at its global headquarters on New York’s Park Avenue. Work on the new site is expected to start in 2019.
